Not Close Enough
by Rheassa
Summary: Ace is one of the luckier elementals: he's got a great job working at the best bathhouse in the business. That lasted right about until he's been 'rented out' to help one of his guests to organise a summit. As if starting from scratch wasn't enough, Ace has to deal with the lack of boundaries and his own stupid feelings. Marco x Ace. Rated T for now.
1. Chapter 1

**'Sup! **

**Yeah, new story... I have to say, the ideas are spawning and this particular one is a product of the week without internet. May or may not (depending on response) have a continuation. **

**Grammar was fixed by lunarshores and I am forever grateful for that. **

**Disclaimer: still not mine and will never be.**

**Song of the chapter: _The Crow, The Owl and The Dove_ by _Nightwish_ (my fav band of all time)**

**SUPER IMPORTANT NOTE IN MY PROFILE.**

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"Ace, your guest is here," said Bonney as she entered the lounge.

"Is it Salamander?" Ace asked from the corner he occupied. Since he hadn't had any guests so far, he had been helping out in the main hall until ten minutes ago. He had just finished his sandwich and had been about to go get something to drink when Bonney entered the room.

"No, it's Phoenix, he's in the orange room," Bonney replied and went back to the reception.

"Alrighty, I'll be right out," Ace nodded and got up. He dusted off the black linen pants he was wearing in case he left any crumbs and quickly moved to the mirror by the exit. After checking his appearance, Ace walked out of the lounge into a corridor and then to the elevator at the end of it. To get to the first floor from the servants' floor, he had to either take the stairs or the elevator and, since the orange room was on the top floor, it was faster to take the elevator.

On the first floor a couple of guests entered the elevator, followed by Conis. Ace took a step back, making space, and bowed politely to the guests, welcoming them. The guests didn't pay him any attention, chatting away about the summit that would happen in a week's time. The summit was hosted by Whitebeard himself, and it was a great honour for any youkai to be invited. None of the guests in the elevator seemed to be invited, but they knew someone who knew someone who had been invited, which was enough for them to talk excitedly about it.

The guests exited on the third floor heading for one of the private rooms. As he was expected, Ace bid them farewell and continued up. The structure of the bathhouse was pretty simple – baths on the first floor, main hall on the second floor, third and fourth were private rooms where guests could relax without the crowd and on the top, fifth, floor were VIP rooms as Ace called them. They weren't really VIP but only a handful of people ever went there mostly because of the extreme temperatures in every sense of the word.

The fifth floor was divided in two parts, one was fire and another - ice. They therefore needed special hosts for those, which was Ace's duty. There were only two fire hosts – Ace himself and his brother Sabo who, if Ace wasn't mistaken, was off stealing food the kitchens right about now. There was only one more ice host; Bay, Robin and Vivi were the only ones that tended to the other side. Sometimes it felt like there was competition between the ice hosts and them, which was quite understandable, not only because of the whole fire and ice thing, but also because of the division of the sexes as well.

When the elevator stopped on the fifth floor Ace went to the small room for servants to change his pants for a pair of white shorter ones that had a hem with golden embroidery below his knees, creating a slightly eastern feeling to them. He checked himself in the mirror again, seeing to it that the pants would look like they would fall off his hips with one wrong (or right, depending on the point of view) move. His torso was bare except for the beaded red necklace but that didn't cover much, staying true to the 'free eye-candy' policy Ivankov advertised. Not that Ace minded that much, he actually preferred it when he didn't have to wear too many clothes.

Nodding to himself in the mirror, he left the room and went to the orange room where his guest expected him. Kneeling before the door, Ace knocked and, after waiting a couple of seconds, slid the door open with a practiced movement. He entered the room almost in a crouch that still looked effortless and graceful after many years of practice. After closing the door, Ace turned around, kneeling again, and bowed:

"Welcome back, master."

When no answer came, Ace raised his head and was met by a bored stare from a giant cerulean blue flaming bird. The bird nested in the middle of the room approximately where the pyre would be.

"I apologise for taking so long," Ace said as he got to his feet and bowed again, deeper this time. The bird kept staring at him silently, but he already knew what it would have said. Straightening himself, Ace walked closer to the bird and touched the floor close to where it nested in a bed of cinders, summoning the fire. The flames came slowly, almost hesitantly, so Ace coaxed them to make them stronger in order to make a steady glow to begin with.

"How have you been?" he asked the bird, carefully touching its back. The bird made a slight circular motion with its head which meant 'fine'. "Good to hear," Ace started massaging the bird's back gradually heating up his hands. "The whole bathhouse is buzzing about the summit, you must have been busy."

At that the bird exploded, ruffling its feathers and looking like a blue fireball. Then it gave Ace the killer glare, making Ace laugh as he calmingly stroked the bird's back.

"Is there really so much to do?" he asked, raising the floor temperature a bit. The answer to the question was a deep sigh and rolled eyes. "I'm certain there are others who could help with preparations."

The bird hissed angrily, swiftly opening its wings and almost hitting Ace in the face, but he just laughed at that. Apparently there weren't so many volunteers as one might expect and the entirety of the summit planning and preparations fell on the bird in front of him. The same bird who had probably turned maniacal, and whose brothers sent him to the bathhouse to relax in order for them to survive. He waited for the bird to settle down and raised the temperature a little bit more, continuing to massage its back.

"Aside from that, has anything happened? Granted, you didn't have much time to think lately, but there must have been something since you last came here?" The bird answered with a movement that resembled a shrug and looked at Ace with a raised eyebrow. "I've been well, thank you. My days are pretty much the same, so nothing much has happened. My brother is fine; he's probably stuffing his face right now. They still can't find a way to keep him out of the kitchens, which is pathetic because we've been working here for twelve years… last Wednesday actually. That's a long time, but I haven't given it much thought."

Ace carefully took the left wing and stretched it out, working his way through tense muscles. The bird seemed to have calmed down judging by how the wing slackened between Ace's hands. He knew exactly how to get the bird calm and relaxed, since it has been coming to the bathhouse frequently for the last half a century, long before Ace started working here. The man who taught him every trick of the trade resigned five years ago to 'bug the crap out of Mihawk' as the man himself put it. Ace was kind of sad to see Shanks leave, but he did not try to stop him because the man really deserved it. Despite the loss of an arm, he was still brilliant in their trade and Ace was proud to have been his disciple.

One could think that working at a bathhouse was a low class kind of work, but Ace liked it and was rightfully proud of his job. Being merely a fire elemental could not get you very high on the social ladder of youkai and working in the best bathhouse in the business was an achievement on its own. He and his brother were chosen before other elementals simply because they were young and could be taught from scratch – something they had thought was a bad thing turned out to be their golden ticket.

Working for Ivankov was not easy, mainly because of his eccentric (that's to put it mildly) fashion. Well, actually Ace would be lying if he said that Ivankov was a bad boss. He was fair to his employees (although sometimes it felt like he was a slave driver); they had their wages that, compared to other places, were extremely generous and they had their days off from time to time. That was a lot more than a simple fire elemental could ever ask for – most elementals worked for only food and roof over their heads.

All the while he worked, Ace talked about some insignificant things, his voice low and soothing just like he was taught. While some guests preferred he worked quietly, others liked him to talk as a background noise or actually have a conversation with them. Sometimes he even had to hum or sing, depending on the guest's mood.

After massaging both wings, he started on the neck. By that time he raised the temperature so much that no one but a fire elemental could enter the room. The bird was already dozing off, resting its head on his shoulder. With his hands softly running through the feathers Ace started creating a flaming cocoon around the bird using the fire to go through the pressure points a second time.

He started humming instead of talking, lulling the bird into slumber. Its head was still on Ace's shoulder while the body was covered by a flaming blanket that gently massaged its body. In about half an hour, he would wake the bird, who would be slightly drowsy but completely refreshed and ready to take on the preparations for the summit once again. Some of his co-workers said that he just sat doing nothing most of the time, but that was far from truth. Among other things, he constantly worked on his relationship with his more frequent guests, so that they would trust him enough to completely relax in his presence. Phoenix, for example, was a very private person who did not trust anyone besides his immediate family, and it made Ace extremely proud that the bird could relax and take a nap with him around. In his turn, Ace would do just about anything to keep that nap uninterrupted.

There was a knock on the door, and it slid open, revealing his brother.

"Ace, Salamander is here," Sabo said in normal voice and Ace glared at him angrily – the bird in his arms stirred at the loud voice and unfamiliar presence.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" he replied quietly almost singing the words, using his fire to calm Phoenix down.

"But he's one of yours," Sabo lowered his voice getting the hint.

"Are any of your guests here?" Ace asked, shifting a little from his kneeling position.

"No."

"Then take him in my stead, you won't die after treating him one time," he said, aware of the reason Sabo didn't want to meet Salamander – the lizard had a weird thing for the blond, which made it almost impossible for Sabo to work with him.

"Can't I just take over here?" his brother pleaded.

"No. Now close the door," Ace replied sternly. Had Sabo been busy he would have asked Salamander to wait for him in the main hall and get him after he woke the bird up, but his brother was free, so Ace saw no need in cutting the relaxation short. Unless he really had to be somewhere else, he spent the whole time his guests were here with them – from the moment they entered the bathhouse and until they left it. Today was an exception since he did not have any appointments and was on his break when Phoenix came in. In such cases, whoever was close escorted the guest to the chosen room while one of the people on reception went to get Ace.

After his brother left, the bird in his arms relaxed again – even through slumber it felt the unfamiliar presence and tensed up. He continued to hum whichever song came to his mind, allowing the scorching heat of the room slowly fade to steady glow to keep the room warm but not overly so. The bird was still in the fiery cocoon, so it didn't feel the changing temperature.

When the time came, he gently shook the bird's wing.

"Master, it's time to wake up," Ace's voice was slightly higher than his humming was. The bird gave him a long sigh, changing the position slightly, but refusing to get up. "Come on, now. Are you planning on hibernating here until next spring?" He shook the wing slightly harder this time. The bird sighed again, ruffling its feathers and raising its head to look at him sleepily. "Good morning," Ace said with a smile. He knew he was a little bit overly familiar with Phoenix, but he also knew that the bird preferred it that way.

"What would you like to do now?" he asked the bird as he got to his feet. His legs prickled a little after sitting still for a long time.

The bird didn't answer, easily breaking the cocoon and stretching its body. It flexed its wings by flapping them a couple of times. Ace went to a drawer by the door and took out a navy blue silken yukata with a simple pattern of stars. He went to the bird and held it out invitingly. The bird looked at the yukata, nodded and turned into a man. As a bird, Phoenix was regal and magnificent, but as a man, he was breathtakingly stunning – body trained to perfection, tanned skin, wheat blond hair and cerulean blue eyes that seemed to look into his very soul. The man turned his back to Ace, and he helped to put the yukata on.

To be completely honest with himself, Ace liked the bird better. Mainly because in bird form he didn't make Ace feel the way he wasn't supposed to feel and did not give him a chance of a false hope. Tying the sash on the blond, Ace hated himself for being so unbelievably stupid.

"I would like something to eat," the blond's voice was slightly raspy from sleep, which didn't help Ace's predicament a bit.

"I take it you would like to dine in private," Ace said with a slight smile, referring to the whole summit thing and the number of people who would like an invitation that currently were in this very building.

"Very perceptive of you," the blond smirked.

"Please follow me," Ace nodded.

They made their way to the elevator, finding there Vivi with a guest of her own waiting for the elevator to arrive. Ace greeted her guest at exactly the same time as Vivi bowed to Phoenix. They smiled at each other at their synchronised movements and waited quietly as their guests exchanged greetings.

"Fancy meeting you here, Aokiji," Phoenix said.

"Right back at you, Marco. Shouldn't you be preparing for the summit instead of slacking off in Ivan's bathhouse?" Aokiji replied.

"Do not talk to me about it unless you want me to cut off your tail and give it to Izou to make a fan out of," Phoenix growled angrily.

"Ooh, scary," Aokiji laughed.

The elevator announced its arrival by a soft ding, slightly distracting the guests from their conversation. Ace entered the elevator last, pressing number four; Vivi already pressed two to get to the main hall. The ride was a short one and, after bidding Vivi and her guest farewell, Ace went to the reception of the fourth floor to find a free room and sent orders to the kitchen. He made the order and led the way to the assigned room, Phoenix following him silently. According to Ivankov a good host made sure that their guest didn't have to talk to the servants unless they wanted to, namely they had to know guest's preferences and guess the guest's wishes before they had to voice them.

The bar was even higher for those who had regular guests – you were royally screwed if you mixed them up and got something wrong. Some people even got fired when they made a giant faux pas, smaller ones got you instantly demoted from host to lowest ranking servant that got to interact with guests. If a servant made a mistake they were demoted to the 'invisible ones', namely those servants who weren't supposed to be seen or heard by the guests. The only people who had any margin for mistakes were trainees; once you flew solo, mistakes were unacceptable.

Their room was one of the smaller ones designed for a small company up to four people. It had a low table in the middle and many cushions on the floor. There were two traditional paintings on the walls joined with other rooms, the wall opposite from the door had a beautiful tapestry portraying mountains covered in morning mist.

Soon after they settled down (Ace did his best to keep his professional friendly face, more than a little distracted by his guest), one of the trainees knocked, bringing them tea and some snacks to keep them occupied until the food arrived. Unless the guest wished so Ace was not allowed to touch food other than to serve, but Phoenix wasn't one who liked being watched while he ate, so Ace always got to eat a nice meal whenever he was here.

While they waited for the food, they passed time with a friendly conversation; Ace made sure to avoid _that_ topic. Phoenix came here to relax, not to think about unpleasant workload waiting for him at home. Therefore Ace talked about some funny situations that happened to him or his co-workers and other completely unrelated topics. Right about when he was running out of other things to talk about (after all he was just as curious about the summit as the guests), there was another knock on the door, and a trainee entered the room carrying a tray full of food. Both Phoenix and Ace stared at the food, the guest did so with curiosity, his host – with horror.

"Coby, I did not order this," Ace said trying to maintain a collected façade. This was exactly the thing that would get one demoted on the spot or, depending on the guest, fired.

"My deepest apologies," the trainee shrieked, bowing so hard he almost bent in two. He backed to the door, but Phoenix raised his hand to stop him.

"Wait. Leave the bottle and I'll be quiet about this," the blond said with a slight smile.

Ace quickly got to his feet, confiscating the bottle and making a face at Coby, the one that had 'what are you doing?' written all over it. The trainee stared at him with wide scared eyes and Ace quickly dismissed him, sliding the door shut. As long as no one else saw this, Coby should be safe, but if the head of the corridor got a whiff of what happened, the kid was as good as dead meat. Especially if he knew who was in the room.

After putting sake and the cups on the table he sat down in dogeza and bowed.

"My sincere apologies, master. I will see to it that this never happens again," Ace said.

"This is exactly what can't happen at the summit," Phoenix sighed. "No matter how many times I come here, everything is running smoothly and not a thing is out of place; this is actually the first time something like this happened."

"I can't apologise enough for this, master. If it pleases you, you won't have to pay for this visit," Ace said with his face still facing the floor after sensing clear discontent in his guest's voice.

"That's not what I'm talking about. No one seems to know what they're doing, and Izou and I are running around the house with our asses on fire failing miserably to do anything productive and here, after half a century, this is the first time anything like this ever happened!"

"I am so…"

"Would you stop apologising? I'm not angry at you; I'm angry at the idiots at home," Phoenix sighed. "And would you stop with the dogeza already? It feels like I'm talking to your hair."

Ace straightened himself hesitantly, unsure if his guest would get angry if he apologised for apologising. He returned to his place across from Phoenix and poured his guest some sake. The blond took the cup with a thankful nod, rubbing his temple tiredly.

"Can you tell me how this whole thing works here, cause there's a week left and we are just at our wits end, it's pure chaos back home." Phoenix looked at Ace pleadingly.

"Well, in my opinion, everything works here because people know what they are supposed to do," Ace said after some consideration.

"Thank you, that's very helpful. I think I already said that no one knows what they're doing," the blond snapped.

"What I meant is that we don't run all over the place trying to do everything at the same time. People here have their respective tasks that they are supposed to be doing, like me being here with you or people at the kitchen or even those that see to it that there's enough food," Ace elaborated.

Phoenix just groaned and slumped forward, hitting his head on the table.

"Master? Are you alright?" Ace half rose from his seat, unsure if this was serious. Then the blond started banging his head against the table. "Master?"

"Fuck... damn it…." Phoenix said with desperation in his voice. "I completely forgot about the food…"

"Could you please wait here for a moment?" Ace asked, quickly getting to his feet. He hoped that his idea would not offend the blond even more after Coby's faux pas. He sprinted to the floor reception and shortly returned to the room with a writing block and a couple of pens. Ace sat back down and explained to the confused guest: "If it pleases you, I can help you to organise things a bit since I know a little about how this whole structure works."

"Could you really do that?" Phoenix looked at him like he was his last hope.

"If you wish so," Ace nodded.

"Thank you," the blond said meaningfully.

"Let's start at the beginning. How many guests are coming?"

"No idea."

"Excuse me?"

"I have no idea. Izou's the one who's in charge of the guests."

"I do not wish to offend you, master, but if you don't know how many guests are coming, you're… um…"

"You don't have to say it; I know I'm screwed."

"Alright, do you know approximately how many guests? Hundred? More? Less?"

"Less, I think. We don't have enough place to accommodate a hundred people."

"Fifty, maybe?"

"Maybe? I'm not sure."

"Alright, we'll start with that," Ace nodded, writing 50 on top of the first page and circling it. "There are fifty people coming. What do you need?"

They continued to talk about it long after they got their food (the right order this time) and continued after Coby took the plates, Ace taking notes diligently all the time. He had to tell no twice to the people that came looking for him because his guests were here because Phoenix really needed that help, and he couldn't waste time. They sat there until closing time at five in the morning, by that time Ace barely suppressed his yawns, but they managed to cover a lot of things. Escorting the Phoenix to the exit, Ace still tried to think if they missed anything.

"You will have to adjust everything to the number of guests, but this should get you out of the circles you were running in," he said, handing the writing block with his scribbles all over it. "If you need anything else, please come here, and we'll figure it out. I'll make sure to keep the eleven o'clock slot open just in case."

"Thank you so much, I don't know what I would have done without you." Phoenix thanked him genuinely.

"I am sure you would have figured it out," Ace said with a smile as he bowed. "Thank you for your patronage, and please come again."

"You can bet on it," the blond smiled and left after waving goodbye.

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**Thanks for reading :D Do leave a review with your opinion on this :D**

**Gold star for those who can guess what inspired this XD**

**Hope to see you soon,**

**~Rhe.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I solemnly swear that I did not spend any time writing this one since I put the announcement out. It was supposed to stay on my laptop until better times but I need some positive emotions now because I'm freaking out because I'm moving in a couple of days.**

**Beta'ed by lunarshores to whom I am eternally grateful.**

**Song of the chapter: _Zombie_ by _Maître Gims_.**

**Disclaimer is in the first chapter.**

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It felt like it was only a minute ago that his head touched the pillow, and now someone was shaking him awake.

"Wassap?" Ace slurred, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Shh, you'll wake the others. Iva-chan wants to see you," said someone in hushed voice.

"What time is it?" he sat up on his futon and focused his eyes on what seemed to be Inazuma.

"Half past eight."

Ace crawled out of the sleeping room where fourteen other hosts were sleeping soundly, muttering curses under his breath. Who the hell woke people up at this forsaken hour? He only went to bed like three hours ago! What could be so important Iva-chan needed to wake him up?

He got to the corridor and stood up, following Inazuma like he was – with barely opened eyes, tousled hair and nothing but a pair of sleeping shorts on him. Ace barely remembered how they got to Ivankov's office, he was yawning all the time, unable to keep both his eyes open. Inazuma opened the door, letting him in, so Ace immediately propped himself against a bookshelf that stood just a step away from the door.

"Whassa'ell, Iva-chan?" he muttered hoping that he'd get to return to bed soon.

"Candy-boy! Finally!" Ivankov said something else, but Ace didn't hear him, dozing off by the bookshelf. "Ace-chan!" Ivankov said loudly, startling Ace.

"Wha?" he whined, trying to get comfortable.

"You were the one hosting Phoenix-san yesterday, weren't you?" Ivankov asked.

"What of it?" he grumbled.

"You helped him with something, right?"

"Yes, now can I please go back?" Ace managed to open one eye to glare at Iva-chan. Only, it wasn't just him, Ivankov and Inazuma in the room. There were two more people sitting in front of Ivankov's desk who looked at him with amusement mixed with slight discontent. Ace couldn't find enough energy to care, much less to behave appropriately, so he just stayed hugging the bookshelf to keep himself upright.

"Were you the one who made the notes?" asked one of the intruders.

"Can we please get back to this in a couple of hours? My brain is off…" Ace muttered into the bookshelf.

"Get him a cup of coffee," Ivankov said to someone. "We won't get anything more out of him when he's like that."

"No coffee… 'm going back to bed…" realising that whatever they wanted from him needed more than a minute Ace tried to get out of there but walked into something, hit his head, lost his balance and fell back on his ass.

"Candy-boy, are you alright?"

"'m fine," he said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead where it hit what, upon closer inspection, looked like a doorframe.

"No offense, Ivankov, but really? Him?" said one of the unfamiliar people in the room.

"He's just asleep," Iva-chan said reassuringly. "He only went to bed a couple of hours ago."

"I can see that he's asleep," said the second guest. "But we need him awake."

"Inazuma, get Ace-chan on the couch and give him some coffee. I'm sorry, candy-boy, but you can't sleep right now. You can take a day off today to get your beauty sleep," Ivankov reassured Ace as Inazuma all but dragged him to the couch.

"Can't, I have eleven o'clock," he answered through a yawn, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up.

"No you don't," said Inazuma as he offered Ace a cup with dark beverage.

"Yes I do," he said stubbornly.

"No, you don't. I have your schedule right here and your eleven o'clock is empty," Iva-chan argued.

"Exactly," Ace nodded, finally opening both of his eyes. "I have to keep the eleven o'clock empty in case he needs something else."

"He, as in Phoenix-san?"

"Yes," he looked up from his cup meeting three pairs of eyes staring at him expectantly.

The two visitors turned out to be a sakura demon and one of the harvest gods which surprised him to no end – those two kinds of youkai were not very friendly to each other and seeing them sitting amicably together was more than a little astonishing. The sakura demon was very beautiful, his hair in a perfect traditional hairdo, and his face was painted better than any geisha Ace had ever seen (and he has seen quite a lot of them after working for Ivankov for so long). His dark eyes looked at Ace sceptically making Ace realise how he looked right now (namely very, very far from the way he looked in the evening when he was meeting guests). The demon was dressed in pink kimono with a pattern of cherry blossoms; even from his place on the couch Ace could see that the kimono was of the highest quality.

Compared to the sakura demon, the harvest god looked… shabby. He had a weird hairstyle and was dressed in simple white jacket and pants, looking like a pauper next to the regal beauty that was the demon. Ace tried not to think how he looked compared to that same demon because that was a giant blow to his confidence as a host.

"Well, at least he looks remotely awake now," said the harvest god.

"Anyway, Ace-chan, these are Izou and Thatch, they are Phoenix-san's brothers," Ivankov explained. "They are here for, ahem, different reasons but want the same thing, namely that you would help them with the summit."

"I don't care about the summit, but if he can turn murderous and psychotic Marco into his normal self then I want him around," said the harvest god.

"He wouldn't be murderous if you just helped out a little," Ace muttered into his cup. Yesterday he got to know that the only ones who seemed to care about the summit were Phoenix himself and his brother Izou while the rest of the family pretended like nothing happened and stayed away from them.

The harvest god gaped at him while the demon snorted, looking extremely amused.

"That is exactly what I told him, word for word. I like this guy," the demon said with a smile. "So, Ivankov, do we have a deal?"

"If you double the money then yes, we do," Iva-chan said with a sly smile.

"What? Thousand soul coins for… for… a _fire elemental_?!" the harvest god exploded. "And just for two weeks?!"

Ace almost dropped his cup. Was Iva-chan really renting him out for that price? Who would pay that much for him? Even half the price was a lot to ask for a fire elemental for two weeks, no matter the task assigned… He shrunk on the couch as everyone looked at him.

"Do not take me wrong, Thatch-boy, but what you offered is the amount he makes here in two weeks and if I agree to your price I'll be working against myself."

"_That_ makes five hundred in two weeks?" the harvest god pointed at Ace with his hand, who shrunk even more, wishing he was invisible.

"Your dear brother paid a hundred yesterday," Iva-chan said sweetly.

"He WHAT?" this time it was the demon who shrieked.

Ace was doing his best to supress a coughing fit because when Ivankov mentioned how much Phoenix paid for him yesterday the coffee went the wrong way. He tried to restart his breathing without coughing, making any noise or attracting any attention, but succeeded in nothing as he broke out coughing loudly. Bargaining parties stared at the subject of their discussion, stopping their arguing for a moment.

"You're not pulling our legs, do you? Because so far he's been just like any elemental," the harvest god said sceptically. Ace didn't need him to finish his thought about elementals because he knew exactly what people thought about them. Dumb, dirty, and worthless.

"Ace-chan, why don't you go pack your things while we discuss the price," Ivankov said, looking at the harvest god none too kindly.

Thankful for the opportunity to get out of the office, Ace quickly got up, bowed and bolted to the corridor, taking the cup with deadly coffee with him. He didn't leave the best impression, for sure, but Iva-chan seemed sure that he would still rent Ace out, so he decided to do as he was told. He went to minus second floor where employees had their small lockers, among other things.

Ace didn't have many things to his name - a set of nicer clothes he could go out to town with, one pair of shoes, the sleeping shorts he was wearing, three pairs of underwear and a set of simple pants and shirt. His working clothes, namely the black pants and the white ones with embroidery, were provided by the bathhouse and therefore did not belong to him. The money he earned was put in a bank so that when he finished working at the bathhouse he would have a nice sum to retire with. Despite being very sly, Iva-chan was an honest man when it came to paying his employees and whenever Ace checked his bank account, the sum had grown, making him excited about the amount of money he'd have when he resigned.

He quickly got himself more or less ready, changing into his simpler clothes, brushing his teeth, washing his face, and combing his hair. Ace then packed his things, carefully folding everything and making sure he did not forget his toiletries. Everything fit into his small backpack and even left space for more stuff since he carried his shoes.

Ace glanced at himself in the mirror. The young man that looked back at him was not that shabby thing that squinted at him ten minutes ago, but not the host either. It was… just him, a tired fire elemental called Ace. Just when he mused about the fact that the hobo that he saw in the mirror not too long ago and the host from yesterday were the same person, Inazuma came to get him.

"Did they agree on a price?" he asked curiously.

"They were naïve to think that they could negotiate with Emporio Ivankov himself," Inazuma smiled.

Ace nodded, understanding. He wanted to ask if it was true what they said in the office about him bringing in so much money, but did not dare to do that. It was none of his business plus he wasn't sure that he'd get an honest answer. He was escorted to the exit where the demon and the harvest god waited for him spending time in an argument. Apparently the harvest god was angry with the demon for paying the whole price Ivankov was demanding for a measly elemental.

"Finally!" the harvest god exclaimed when he saw Ace.

Ace was about to apologise, but the demon cut him off.

"Don't pay any attention to him, he's just sulking because you said the same thing I did. Several times a day. For the last couple of weeks," the demon smiled. "And I will say it again, if you would just get off your ass and help out we wouldn't be where we are now," that was said louder than necessary with a pointed look at the god who looked away. "I'm Izou, and that giant baby is Thatch and I, unlike certain someone, am thrilled that you are going to help us."

"I am Ace," he bowed politely. "I'll be in your care from now on."

"Please take care of us," Izou bowed back at Ace, surprising him to no end. That was the first time that someone that was higher than him bowed back at him. "I assume since you are always taking care of my brother, he talks about us?"

"Um… yes…" Ace replied, still a little shocked. "He talked about you yesterday, actually."

"Really? What did he say?" Izou said, motioning for Ace to follow him.

"Er… how should I put it…" he suddenly realised that it wasn't smart of him to mention that.

"Say it as it is," Thatch snickered.

"Well… his exact words were that you and he were running around as if your pants were on fire and the rest just sat here doing nothing…"

"That pretty much sums it up." Surprisingly Izou wasn't angry. "Actually, that's exactly what we've been doing. And this morning he came home shining like new coin, got everyone up and gave everyone something they are supposed to do today and, really, for the first time it felt like we were going somewhere."

"Well, it lasted right until he could not figure out what the notes said," the harvest god looked at Ace with accusation.

"I'm so terribly sorry!" Ace's eyes widened in horror when he realised that they had to rent him because his notes were uncomprehensive. He was about to apologise in dogeza when someone grabbed the scruff of his shirt, stopping him in the middle.

"I think I asked you to ignore the idiot," Izou said with a sigh, hoisting Ace back up. "There's nothing wrong with your notes. To bring you in was my idea because I thought it would be more effective that way."

Ace followed them out of the bathhouse, berating himself for opening his mouth in the office. Of course he was still half asleep back then (hence no brain-to-mouth filter), but that was no excuse to say anything like that. What more, it seemed that his words had offended and angered the harvest god. To top everything off, the sakura demon outright told him to ignore the angry god and that confused Ace to no end.

"You're not getting into the carriage with us," Izou said and Ace was about to join the wind elemental who was driving the carriage when he was stopped the same way as when he tried to apologise. "Not you, you're riding inside with me. I want to be able to talk to you without him interrupting anything with his childish remarks."

He was pushed into the carriage when he tried to say anything against the arrangements, so Ace could just hope that this would not anger Thatch even more. Though he knew he was kidding himself because there was no way the god would ignore this kind of treatment.

"Don't worry about him, he's all bark and no bite," Izou said, settling across from Ace, who nodded hesitantly. "I have to say, you are pretty cute despite your constant apologising. I can certainly see what my brother saw in you."

"Th… thank you." Ace was not expecting this. Somehow, he could not get his act together – he did not stutter normally and was better behaved.

"Oh, I just had most wonderful idea! You'd have to be more awake then, but a little changes here and there… oh and the clothes… definitely red!" the demon exclaimed, rubbing his hands together.

The carriage moved, and Ace almost fell forward, taken by surprise. He quickly straightened himself and looked at Izou, who ignored his mistake.

"Excuse me, what are you talking about?" Ace asked, because the last statement made no sense to him.

"Dressing you up, of course," the demon said as if it was the most natural thing. "I'm convinced that you don't look your best right now, so I want to see you at your best."

"If it pleases you?" he answered, feeling very out of place.

"Oh, it would please me immensely," Izou smiled at him with a devious smile, making Ace regret agreeing to anything. "But before that, we have a summit to take care of. I glanced through your notes quickly, you seem to know what you're doing so could you tell me about where the experience came from?"

"Ah, that's… You see, there is a chain of command in the bathhouse and senior hosts are just below Inazuma and Iva… Emporio-sama. All the senior hosts have been in charge of the bathhouse at one point or another," Ace explained.

"So you're a senior host? What's the difference?" Izou seemed to be genuinely interested.

"I am, and if you have more than ten regular guests then you are promoted to senior host," he nodded.

"How many do you have? Or you can't answer that?"

"Of course, I can. I have twelve regular guests and around thirty regular seasonal guests."

"Is it a lot or a little?"

"I don't know the answer to that."

"Alright then. You said something about running the bathhouse?"

"Yes. Basically, any day Inazuma can come to one of senior hosts in the morning and tell you you're in charge of the establishment for a day or a week," Ace elaborated, remembering the morning Inazuma said that to him. After ten minutes of freaking out he had to get his act together lest he wanted everything to go up in flames.

"How long were you in charge?"

"Two weeks. It took a couple of days before I got the hang of it. The first day was the worst," Ace shuddered.

"What happened? Did you mess up?" Izou asked curiously.

"I had to leave one of my guests and tend to the emergency in the main hall, but that took too long, and the guest left," he said, embarrassed.

"Wait, you had to entertain guests at the same time?" the demon stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, why?"

"Isn't that a lot?"

"Well, that is why we are Kambakka Bathhouse. Everyone knows what they are doing."

After staring at him for a whole minute, the sakura demon finally spoke.

"And this is why I knew it was a splendid idea to bring you in."

The rest of the way to their destination Izou asked Ace questions about different organising moments for the summit. They agreed that the first thing they'll do is to walk around the mansion with a guest list in their hands, then to have a staff meeting to introduce Ace and for him to see who is responsible for what, make a few adjustments (Ace was sure that there would be adjustments needed) and give out assignments. The rest was up to Ace, whatever he decided to do. The only thing Izou wanted was that Ace would give him five minutes to take measures for clothes. He promised that he would do that today, but the time might depend on the situation. The demon was content with that answer, seemingly already designing the clothes in his head.

Soon after that the carriage stopped. Ace was about to peek out of the window but held himself back, allowing the demon to take the lead. The door opened, revealing the harvest god, who was bowing down with the fakest smile possible.

"Your majesty." The amount of sugar in that voice could give one diabetes just by hearing it.

"It's time you recognized me for who I am," Izou replied, exiting the carriage with regal grace. "Also, you should not be looking me in the eye."

"Stuck-up okama," Thatch rolled his eyes.

"Idiot cook," the demon said pleasantly. "Ace, what are you doing? We have a lot to do."

"Ah… right," Ace shook his head, getting back to earth after spacing out at the look of the mansion.

The mansion was enormous. Unlike the bathhouse, it was done in Western style. Ace did not know what kind of Western style, but it had columns by the entrance and mouldings around windows on all three floors. The building was light blue colour, and the mouldings and columns were white. Ace liked it, mostly because it looked welcoming, but also because the colour reminded him of clear summer sky but a couple shades lighter.

He hurried after Izou to the entrance, instantly noticing with his trained eye that the stairs leading to the entrance have not been swept for a couple of days. The entrance was a double door, but only one part opened with a slight creak, making Ace wince. He would need to go around the house and inspect every single stone and crack around it.

The entrance hall had a lived in feeling to it; some things were slightly out of place, and right in the middle of it was a big carpet with a giant stain in the middle of it. Ace inhaled deeply, his eyebrow twitching at the sight of the stain. He would have a nice chat with the servants of this estate because so far things were unacceptable.

"This is new, we didn't have the time to clean it," Izou said sheepishly.

'You won't have time to fix it, and you will find yourself looking at it five minutes before the first guests would arrive,' Ace thought with a frown. He had to get someone to clean that immediately.

"I am sorry, but I have cut straight to the point. I need to take a look at the state of things," he said after a moment.

The demon nodded, seeming eager to improve anything he could; Thatch had already disappeared somewhere. Ace's eyebrow twitched again – somehow he'd have to catch the harvest god and force him to help out. They wouldn't get far if people living in this mansion continued thinking that preparations for the summit had nothing to do with them.

"Can I please see the guest list?"

"Right, follow me, I have it in our summit office, so to speak," Izou said. "We used one of the rooms to keep all the stuff concerning the summit there. I just have to warn you, it's a mess there."

Ace nodded with a forced smile, trying his hardest to not to clutch his head. Izou made the right call, deciding to bring him in. If there was a mess in the planning room and a stain left on the carpet for more than ten minutes, they really needed someone to come in and take control of things. At first Ace kind of expected that he'd need to just instruct the personnel, to show them how to greet guests and so on, but now he was afraid he'd have to start from scratch. And the deadline couldn't be closer – he had just one week to fix things. Kambakka wasn't built in a week; their reputation is a result of several centuries of hard work and impeccable service.

Ace clenched his teeth determinedly, suspecting that those three hours of sleep are probably going to be it for the next week. Maybe even two, if the things don't get much better by the time the summit started. He'll make sure that the servants would have nightmares about him long after the summit was over.

The demon led him to a small room, and Ace had to rethink his definition of a mess. The entrance hall was a mess. The planning room was a catastrophe. There were several blackboards around the walls, but it was impossible to approach them because of the layer of all manner of papers on the floor. As if that wasn't enough, there was a mountain of paper on the writing desk. Ace bit his cheek and counted to ten. He had his work cut out for him, and he would succeed even if he died in the process. If there was one trait that stuck with him through thick and thin, it was his stubbornness. Oh, and determination to face the challenges head on.

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**Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows.**

**Cheers,**

**~Rhe.**


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